Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Military Families: Who Qualifies and Where?

The 13th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation’s (QRMC’s) Presidential charter directed the QRMC to survey the usage of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, as well as any other supplemental sources of income or support you deem significant, by military members on active service and their families, and consider the results of the review in assessing the adequacy of overall military compensation.

SNAP is a federal program that helps low-income individuals and families purchase food. The amount of the assistance depends on household size, household income, and other circumstances.

The Director of the 13th QRMC asked CNA to determine state and District of Columbia (DC) eligibility requirements for SNAP, to identify which military allowances and in-kind benefits count toward eligibility, and to estimate the number of active component servicemembers who would be eligible for SNAP in each state and Military Housing Area (MHA). We were also asked to estimate the number of servicemembers serving in the United States who would be eligible for the Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance (FSSA) if it were reinstated for those servicemembers. FSSA was established in 2001 to eliminate the need for SNAP benefits for servicemembers, but it was discontinued in 2016 for members serving in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Guam.